Next EUV Challenge: Pellicles

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is still not ready for high-volume manufacturing, but the technology is at least moving in the right direction.

Both the EUV light source and resists are making noticeable progress, even though there are still challenges in the arena. And then, there is the EUV mask infrastructure, which also has some gaps.

“When EUV is ready, the mask industry will respond to supply the needed masks,” said Aki Fujimura, chief executive of D2S. “But there are still significant challenges, most notably the questions that remain with pellicles at the full power of the light source, and with actinic inspection.”